AMBROISE AUTPERT.

In sancti Johannis apostoli et evangelistæ Apocalypsim libri decem. Cologne, Eucharius Cervicornus for Gottfried Hittorp, 1536. In-folio, cold-stamped tan calf on wood, double framed with medallion portrait scrolls and foliage bordered by fillets, fleurons at the corners and in the middle of the central rectangle, coat of arms in the centre stamped in black within a frame of fillets, marbled basane spine, handwritten title label, corner braces and metal clasps, speckled edges (Binding of the period). First edition of this important exegesis of the Apocalypse by Ambrose Autpert, a Benedictine monk of St. Vincent du Volturne who was a major figure of the Carolingian Renaissance. Magnificent Germanic printing, in Roman characters, decorated with large historiated lettering on a black or white background. The woodcut illustration includes a remarkable title frame in four blocks and 21 figures in the text representing the apocalyptic visions of St. John - an iconographic cycle largely inspired by Dürer's Apocalypse (1498) A copy bound in contemporary cold-stamped calf with the arms of an unidentified enthusiast embossed in black in the centre of the boards. The spine of the volume was covered with marbled basane in the 18th century. From the library of Luis Fernández de Córdoba (1880-1956), Duke of Medinaceli, with bookplate. Slight spotting, two jaws cracked, clasps missing, significant worm work but confined to the margins (affecting one letter on about twenty leaves), some foxing, missing last blank leaf. Adams A-956.